What makes a great discography?

My Bolt Thrower discography ranking got a lot of feedback. Some of it was, predictably, from ornery Europeans who had their panties in a bunch because I low rated the fan favourites. A more pleasant thread of commenters were the ones who noted just how rock solid the band’s catalog is.

I got to thinking, after writing the article, what the proper way to assess a band or artist’s discography would be. BT is a very rare case because they have a large number of releases which all rise to a certain standard of quality. Most good artists either hit notable dips and spikes, or they have a small catalog of solid to great material.

I used to be fairly active on hip hop Twitter, where one of the most lively debates would come from comparing artist’s discographies against each other. The very premise of this discussion leaves a lot of room for subjectivity. How do you compare a rapper like Big L, who has one unfuckwithable classic album, to someone like Lil Wayne, who has over 40 releases spanning from era-defining master works to some of the worst music ever greenlit by a major label?

Is it the law of averages? Do you weigh the peaks higher than the valleys? Is it a sheer numbers game of “how many good albums do they have”?

The answer is complicated and highly personal. Which is why this makes such a compelling debate topic.

I reward an artist for putting out a lot of music — not because there’s intrinsic value to quantity and longevity, just the opportunity to release more good songs. The album, to me, is as good as its tracks.

Sequencing, production and art can add or subtract from the final product, and context matters. I don’t, however, subscribe to the Fantanoian idea that albums should be evaluated on their overarching themes or motifs. I think that approach is more appropriate for high school book reports than enjoying a living, breathing, piece of art.

I rate a discography as a collection of songs arranged into digestible album or EP formats. An artist with only three albums, even if they’re all good, might have 25-30 quality songs. A more prolific artist, like Lil Wayne, may only have five albums worth talking about, but there are dozens more good songs littered across his discography. I think those songs should factor into the overall discography discussion. They get missed when you only focus on the percentage of quality albums released.

I only factor in bad albums when comparing artists who have a similar number of quality projects. Kanye West and Outkast, for example, have about the same amount of good songs and good albums across their catalogs. Kanye has released ten studio albums, whereas Outkast dropped six. Outkast, therefore, has a stronger discog in my opinion.

I also rate artists with short, immaculate discographies highly. There’s something to be said for knowing when to call it quits. Minor Threat wrote 26 songs in three years and pulled the plug the second they got complacent. Then there’s the tragic stories. I would gladly take 15 mediocre Notorious BIG or Joy Division records if it meant those guys were here today. Artistically, though, it’s sometimes better to burn out than to fade away.

The short, sweet discography is great because you can listen to it in one sitting without getting tired. There’s no “deep dive” slog necessary. It’s a great feeling when you can listen to everything an artist did without getting burnt out.

The hardcore podcast Axe to Grind introduced an interesting wrinkle to the discography discussion, which they call “winning streaks”. That’s when an artist has three three good records in a row. Some of hardcore’s foundational acts don’t even have three releases, let alone three good ones in a row. Hardcore bands with three release “winning streaks” are almost guaranteed to be massively influential in some corner of the subculture.

I think any artist with a streak of three or more great releases is worth talking about discography wise. They have enough substance to curate a decent Spotify playlist, even if everything else they dropped is shit. It’s also fun to think about which artists had the longest “winning streaks”.

Musicians who can put together a consistent string of releases often rank among my favourites all time. Hot Water Music, my favourite punk band, has a streak of four full lengths and three EPs between 1997 and 2001. The Tragically Hip dropped six incredible full lengths between 1989 and 1998. Bolt Thrower’s five album run from Realm of Chaos to Mercenary might be the best in extreme metal history, rivalled only by Crowbar, who put out five incredibly consistent albums between 1991 and 1998, had one miss, and then came back with a bang for 2001’s Sonic Excess in its Purest Form. OutKast’s first four albums are varying degrees of immaculate. These are the artists I’ll still be listening to on my death bed.

This whole discussion is silly because not only are the terms subjective — so is the content. Obviously, you might hear an artist who has 100 songs I like and not get one single thing from them. Hip hop Twitter often tried to bring some subjectivity to the table by discussing “classic albums”. Those are records who, removed from whether you like them or not, left an undeniable mark on a time period or influenced a wide scope of a genre’s development.

That’s a more concrete way of viewing things, but it’s kind of a separate discussion. Very few artists have undeniably classic albums, and not everyone was outside for everything. Drake’s Views, an album I don’t really revisit, had my city in a chokehold summer 2016. It’s a Toronto club classic, but someone who was listening to Big Pun freestyle cassettes in 1997 probably doesn’t give a shit.

Besides, you can admit an album had a big impact without liking it. I prefer to talk about what people actually enjoy. A good discography debate cuts right to the heart of that.